Research Blog : vacation, collectionshttp://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/archive/tags/vacation/collections/default.aspxTags: vacation, collectionsenCommunityServer 2008 SP1 (Build: 30619.63)Vacation on a budget...http://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/archive/2009/06/23/vacation-on-a-budget.aspxTue, 23 Jun 2009 21:38:00 GMT9a7b961d-7882-4302-b701-732ca0e566f2:1630SuDocQueen@evpl0http://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=1630http://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/archive/2009/06/23/vacation-on-a-budget.aspx#comments<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;font-family:Calibri;">Nowadays everyone&rsquo;s talking about staycations.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>This reminded me of the wonderful vacations my parents took me on even when we had to watch every penny.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>How&rsquo;d we do it?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>By visiting our National Parks and State Parks (and camping, but that&rsquo;s a whole &lsquo;nother story).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>Most parks have entrance fees for an entire passenger car that are cheaper than an individual ticket to Disney World.</span></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;font-family:Calibri;">Starting in the winter my parents would send away for scads of pamphlets and maps of parks like the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and Slide Rock State Park.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>Planning early is still a good idea but now it&rsquo;s even easier.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>All you have to do is go to </span><a href="http://www.nps.gov/"><span style="font-size:small;color:#800080;font-family:Calibri;">www.nps.gov</span></a><span style="font-size:small;font-family:Calibri;">.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>From there you can learn about every national park in the country.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>They have a great search tool on that front page.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>Just click on the state you&rsquo;re interested in visiting and you&rsquo;ll get a list of all the parks in that state.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>But what if you know the name of a park but not what state it&rsquo;s in?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>No problem.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>Click on the &ldquo;Advanced SearchTool and Map.&rdquo;<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>From there scroll below the map and you&rsquo;ll see a great browser tool that will let you pick your park by name, location, preferred activity, or even topic (like mountains or volcanoes or coral reefs).</span></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;font-family:Calibri;">But what about state parks?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>Well, if there&rsquo;s a site out there that pulls all state parks under one &ldquo;roof&rdquo; I haven&rsquo;t found it yet, but putting &ldquo;state parks (insert the state name of your choice)&rdquo; into Google does a terrific job of pulling up each state&rsquo;s website.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:&#39;Calibri&#39;,&#39;sans-serif&#39;;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:&#39;Times New Roman&#39;;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;">And, if you&rsquo;re at Central Library stop by and take a look at some of the books and pamphlets the National Parks Service still puts out.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>We have a whole series of pamphlets on the Blue Ridge Parkway trails.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>Just ask one of us about Call # I 29.149.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>Or if you&rsquo;re interested in the historic details of sites, you might want to take a look in our I 29.88 area.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>Those are historic structure and site reports on places like Fire Island Lighthouse, the Eleanor Roosevelt Historic Site, and Antietam National Battlefield.</span></p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://evpl.org/community/aggbug.aspx?PostID=1630" width="1" height="1">central librarygoogleOnline resourcesnaturecollectionsevpluseful websitesvacationholidayeconomylibrarysummer